techfun89 writes: "A new spin on 3D printing technology could have spacecraft building themselves by taking materials from space junk or asteroids. The "SpiderFab" project has received $100,000 from NASA's innovative Advanced Concepts program to determine the feasibility of such a self-construction design. With some planning and more funding they hope to launch a 3D-printing test mission within several years.

"The system could then morph in orbit into a very large system a dozen or hundreds of meters in size," Hoyt told InnovationNewsDaily. "It would be like launching a CubeSat that creates a 50 meter-length boom."

The possibilities with this self-building technology would allow for space telescopes the size of ARICEBO in Puerto Rico. Or even more intriguing, such technology can be sent to distant star systems and then build arrays and communications transmitters to send signals back to Earth."